2013 Syrah Originals

Peter Stolpman and his wife, Jessica, along with their team headed by vineyard guru Ruben Solorzano and winemakers Kyle Knapp and Sashi Moorman, continue to make important strides at their Ballard Canyon estate. Stolpman describes 2014 as a year with warmer nighttime temperatures and therefore narrower diurnal shifts than are common here. The 2014 Syrahs are generally mid-weight wines (within the context of Ballard Canyon) made with more attention towards finesse than pure power. Stolpman's Roussanne L'Avion (which sometimes includes Chardonnay) remains one of the Central Coast's most distinctive whites. From what I have seen of late here, the best is yet to come.

Stolpman makes a number of wines, but excels with Syrah and Viognier. Over the last few years, winemaker Sashi Moorman has been moving towards a more refined approach here, with greater whole cluster influence, fermentation in cement and an emphasis on larger oak formats. That's a good thing, as this impeccably farmed vineyard in the heart of Ballard Canyon doesn't need much. If anything, less is more. The best Syrah in the range is the Estate, which also happens to be the least fussed over. Most of the other wines come across as forced. Some of that may have to do with the 2013 vintage, a year in which yields were down 30% across the board. Still, there is no getting around the fact that many of the wines in this range ar forbiddingly tannic. In my view, proprietor Peter Stolpman and Moorman need to have a little more faith in their Syrah sites and allow the winemaking to get out of the way. When the entry-level Syrah offers better balance than the top selections something is not working. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to taste the 2013 Ruben's Block, as it was still in barrel.